Without sufficient time to think, people react by re-hashing the story of some past event.
Those who are too busy, too stressed, or too eager to jump into action are condemned to repeat the past with minor variations. Reaction replaces thought. That€™s why so many needless mistakes are made and so many organizations today find themselves stuck in outdated patterns based on remembered glories.
What happens when you€™re forced to make a decision almost in an instant? There€™s obviously no time to weigh the options, consider fresh possibilities, or even analyze the circumstances in any depth. All that€™s available are €œgut feel€ or memory. Both are based on €œstories€ you tell yourself about what to do.
These stories have become the automatic response of choice for tens of thousands of harried people every moment of every day: folk stories of management, tales of how others say that they coped, or the fading recollection of how they once coped themselves, sometime in the past.
It€™s as if you were unexpectedly invited to tea at Buckingham Palace and based your behavior either on what your grandmother’s friend used to say about good manners; your recollection of the Mad Hatter€™s Tea Party in €œAlice in Wonderland€ (last read when you were six); or a particularly tense meal with an elderly relative that took place six years ago in Wisconsin. All of them probably make great stories—certainly €œAlice in Wonderland€ does—yet none is really a substitute for thought, research, or seeking advice on the topic of taking tea with the Queen of England.
I know this is an exaggerated example, but it€™s here to make an important point. No matter how recent your past experience, or how seemingly useful some informative story you once heard or read, they cannot provide more than a general approximation to what might be needed in this situation, right now.
Principles versus rules
When you€™re under pressure, your mind wants a quick answer. The greater the pressure, the more appealing an instant solution appears. Besides, there€™s no time to trawl through a long list of half-recalled events or past topics. Instead, you jump for the first, most vivid tale that seems to fit.
What stories are best at doing is conveying general principles in a vivid way. A good story has power to communicate an idea far more effectively than a dry, analytical exposition. Events stick in your mind when they€™re noteworthy or unusual. What is commonplace is quickly forgotten. What stories are not includes many things: a detailed explanation, a set of instructions, an analytical exploration of options, a careful review of the available evidence. For our purposes, the two most important are these: stories are not instructions and they are not rules.
Chained to the past
Sadly, that€™s exactly how folk-stories, experience-stories, or example-stories are most often used: as a firm set of instructions on what to do when you€™re faced with a decision and are too busy, too stressed, too exhausted, too confused, or too damn eager to take time to think carefully. Shooting from the hip has become the automatic choice for all too many leaders, especially in the USA; which is probably why they so often shoot themselves in the foot.
The past may, sometimes, offer guidance on how to deal with the future, but it€™s never a foolproof guide. Something in the current situation is always unique. Some elements have changed since the last time. Parts will never have occurred before. Each repetition of past actions will be a little more €œoff€ and liable to error, even if that story that you€™re telling yourself ever really provided as good a solution as you think it did. There€™s no good substitute for effective thought. It€™s what distinguishes the human race from other creatures on this earth. Many animals have highly-tuned instincts, the ability to learn from experience, and senses that are far superior to ours. Yet only humans, so far as we now, can think in the way that we do.
Why throw that away to please those who treat you only as a means of getting the greatest number of tasks done, at the lowest possible cost, in the shortest possible time? You can be sure that any mistakes made will be counted against you; and all excuses will be summarily dismissed.
Instinctual reactions and experience-based ideas are extremely useful—but not in the way most people use them: as a quick solution to deal with an overloaded schedule. What they do best is help point your thinking in useful directions.
Self appointed experts know all the answers. True experts just know all the best questions.
